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A viral photo of a fist bump between President Joe Biden and Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who US intelligence says ordered the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has sparked a flurry of criticism of Mr. Biden and his foreign policy.
The White House said President Biden addressed the issue of the journalist’s killing in his meeting with the crown prince, but press freedom and human rights activists say the fist salute gave the Saudi prince the kind of legitimacy he was seeking. .
Observers closely followed President Joe Biden’s first visit to the Middle East to see how he would handle the murders of two prominent journalists.
Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed during an Israeli attack in the West Bank on May 11. Her family had asked to meet with President Biden in Jerusalem, but instead she was invited to meet with senior US officials in Washington.
The State Department says Israeli gunfire killed the journalist, but could not confirm whether the shooting was intentional. Some human rights experts say the United States needs to do more.
“The Israelis and the Palestinians have done their investigations. But the journalist Shireen was an American citizen. The FBI should do its own investigation, leave politics out of this incident. She is an American citizen and deserves an independent investigation,” says Sarah Yager from Human Rights Watch.
But much of the criticism surrounding the president’s Middle East trip has focused on a world-first fist salute, quickly shared by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on social media, at President Biden’s meeting with Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah. on July 15.
“Just the image, after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who the CIA says was killed with the consent of the Saudi prince, has caused understandable feelings of pain and strong reactions there,” says Brian Katulis of the Middle East Institute.
Prince Bin Salman denies he is responsible for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Middle East affairs analyst Brian Katulis says it would be better for US presidents to engage directly with countries that do not have a good track record of respect for human rights and raise their concerns on these issues in face-to-face meetings.
“I don’t understand the alternative argument. Severing ties, isolating, and cutting off contacts would not magically improve the human rights situation there,” he says.
But Sarah Yager of Human Rights Watch says presidential visits to dictators can cause real harm.
“President Biden’s trips to the Middle East, but also to other countries like Uganda, the Philippines, and India, empower authoritarian leaders who use repressive tactics, shut down civil society, target journalists, and imprison their political opponents,” she says.
Human rights activist Sarah Yager told VOA that she thinks that after President Biden’s visit, the Saudi prince is likely to crack down even more on women’s rights and political opponents in the kingdom./VOA
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